Kidero abolishes free maternity services in Nairobi County

Nairobi County Governor Dr Evans Kidero on Thursday abolished free maternity services after the national government failed to reimburse the county for Sh165 million spent in offering the service.

Kidero said the move to reinstate payments was necessitated by the high expenditure by the county government and lack of refunds from the government.

“Free maternity services were a project of the national government in conjunction with the counties, the government was to meet the bills incurred but it has not and now we are left with no choice but to abolish it,” he said.

Free maternity was one of the Jubilee flagship projects that were promised in the Jubilee Manifesto during campaigns in the run-up to the last General Election.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had promised that free maternity services would be offered in all public hospitals.

This effectively scrapped any levies to pregnant women seeking to deliver babies in these hospitals.

“In compliance to central government directive on provision of free maternity services, Nairobi County has an outstanding reimbursement of over nine months, amounting to Sh165,171,980 whose details are well within the knowledge of the Health Ministry,” Kidero noted.

Kidero stated that the burden of paying doctors and nurses had now been transferred to the county government for maternity services and that it was too expensive to provide services that do not generate any income.

“We cannot afford it and unless the government does so we will be forced to charge for maternity services,” he added.

The government has reportedly been experiencing a cash crunch over the past few weeks, though it has not been ascertained if this is the main reason for the failure in channeling the funds.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has consistently attributed the shortage of money to the failure by the Kenya Revenue Authority to hit its targets for the month of October.